Takes Time to Realize
by MistressShawyn
Summary: After they have a fight, Hermione runs to her sanctuary to think back on how the friendship with Fred was built, possibly realizing she could love him.


Hermione Granger looked across the Room of Requirements to Fred Weasley and a blonde girl. He was flirting with her heavily, and the girl was accepting it, flirting right back. Hermione was seething, but had to contain it as Harry Potter walked over to her.

"Hermione? You okay there?" Harry asked with worry.

"I am fine Harry." Hermione said through gritted teeth, as Harry called the lesson over. She watched as Fred looked over at her and winked, and started to make his way over to her.

"Great lesson today, huh Granger?" Fred asked with a bright grin as the girl lightly brushed against him as she walked past. She turned, mouthed something, giggled and followed her fellow Hufflepuffs out of the room. Hermione growled and turned on her heels and stormed out of the room, her hair billowing after her as she walked out into the hall. "Hermione!" Hermione froze and fixed Fred with a cold stare as he caught up with her. "What is wrong? I've never seen you like this…towards me at least…has something happened?" Hermione looked at him, but said nothing, and then she looked down at her feet, the cold glare continuing to them, as if it were their fault. "Was it that girl?" he asked dumbfounded. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It was that girl! Were you jealous?" he asked looking down at her as the other students walked around them.

"No." Hermione said through gritted teeth.

"Why in the world would you be jealous of her?" Fred asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I was not jealous Fred!" Hermione growled angrily.

"It doesn't sound that way to me Hermione…seems like you are very jealous. But I just…I cannot figure out why you would be jea-"

"I am not jealous! I don't even know why you would think something so…so ridiculous!" she shouted angrily.

"Maybe because you actually like me! Ever think of that!" he shouted, his anger boiling up.

"No! I was not jealous! I do not like you Fred!" she shouted. She knew her face was red, and she gasped as she thought of what she had just said. _Liar._ The small voice inside her head told her as she turned away, tears in her eyes.

"Hermione…I don't wanna fight. I don't want our friendship to end like this…What's happening to us?" he asked.

Hermione turned away. "What do you mean, by our friendship? Remember Fred, you said I'm just your little brother's dorky friend!" she snapped. She was hurt, and she was like a wild animal, who went crazy when they were injured.

"'Mione…I-I…" Hermione spun on her heels and ran to the library, her number one safe haven in the world.

* * *

"What made you think you had a chance?" Hermione asked herself quietly as she sat in Madam Pince's hidden room. Hermione found it to be the only place she could go when she was very upset. It was better than the bathroom since she was always getting found in there. "I mean really. He is Fred Weasley!" She closed her eyes and began to think back to what led up to this very moment.

* * *

_Hermione sighed as she sat at the Gryffindor table; she had just been sorted into that house, and was overly excited to be in the noble house of Gryffindor. She looked across the table at two boys with red hair. They looked almost exactly alike, but even from her seat she could see the subtle differences that most would simply look over._

_"Ello!" they said in unison grinning at her._

_"Hi. I'm Hermione Granger." she said with a small smile, feeling her cheeks tint into a light shade of red._

_"Fred and George Weasley at your service madam." they said with winks as they shook her hand._

_"Pleasure." Hermione said breathlessly._

* * *

_"Great job Harry, Wood's just told us." Fred said walking up to the trio with his twin George. Fred slid in between Harry and Hermione, while George stood on the other side of Ron._

_"Fred and George are on the team too, beaters." Ron stated plainly._

_"Our job's to make sure you don't get bloodied up too bad." George said playfully._

_"Can't make any promises of course, rough game Quidditch." Fred said._

_"Brutal, but…no one's died in years." George said._

_"Someone will vanish occasionally…" Fred started._

_"But they'll turn up in a month or two." they finished in unison. Hermione looked up at Fred who grinned down at her, making her look away blushing once again before he and George walked off._

* * *

_"No one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in." Hermione said to Draco Malfoy, "They got in on pure talent."_

_Draco snorted, ""Who asked you? You filthy little Mudblood." he growled._

_"How dare you!" Ron and Fred growled in unison._

_"Eat slugs!" Ron said, pointing his damaged wand at Draco. The spell backfired and sent him flying back on to the ground, where he began to puke slugs up. Hermione, Harry, and Fred ran to his side._

_"Come on Ron! Hagrid will know what to do!" Harry said quickly as they helped him up, beginning to leave Fred behind._

_"Thank you Fred." Hermione said sweetly before running after Harry and Ron who were well away from her._

* * *

_Hermione sighed as she stepped up to the Great Hall's main doors. The feeling in her legs had finally returned, and she was no longer wobbly legged from being petrified for a couple of months. The doors were already open, and the students within were all eating. She stood there, breathing in the very familiar smells, before two distinctive heads poked out from behind the backs of the other Gryffindors, grinning at her. She smiled lightly at Harry and Ron, and met Fred's eyes, which were swimming with joy at the sight of her. She smiled and began to run to them. She hugged them and took her seat at the table across from Fred who reached over and patted her shoulder and smiled brightly at her._

* * *

_"Oh, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed as she exited the book store, her arms full of a large ginger cat. "How was Egypt?" she asked excitedly._

_"Oh, marvelous. We tried to shut Percy up into a pyramid!" Fred and George said happily._

_Hermione laughed lightly and smiled at the two before turning back to Ron, "Ron! Scabbers looks terrible." she gasped._

_"I know…It's strange really…What is that!" he asked pointing to the cat which was smacking its lips at the sight of Scabbers._

_"This is Crookshanks, he is my new cat." she said happily._

_"That thing is a cat?" Ron asked._

_Fred chuckled and scratched Crookshanks behind the ear, making a purr resound from the male ginger cat._

* * *

_"There, now you can release the cat, Scabbers is hiding in mine and Percy's room." Ron said, and Hermione happily let the cat down on the floor of the Leaky Cauldron. He walked over to Ron, and sat in front of him and began to growl ferociously at him, even though Scabbers was no longer with him. He bent down, thinking the cat wanted to be petted. He was about to pet it when the cat growled and scratched at him. "Argh!" he exclaimed making Hermione and Fred laugh._

_Fred walked over and picked the large cat up and sat beside Hermione, cradling the now purring cat in his arms. Ron's jaw dropped and he tried to stutter something out but Fred simply chuckled and said, "Maybe the cat has good taste." he winked at Hermione and she giggled lightly._

* * *

_Hermione rubbed her hands together; it was getting colder and colder as the game drug on. She cheered Harry on as he and Cedric Diggory flew higher and higher into the sky after the Golden Snitch. Within moments, dementors flooded the stadium and went after Harry, who soon came plummeting back to earth. Hermione screamed as Dumbledore slowed his fall, and the Gryffindor players landed beside him. Hermione and Ron ran out of the seats and to Harry's side. She stopped by Fred and screamed out; it appeared that Harry was dead. Fred's arm went around her shoulders protectively, "Shh…He'll be fine." he whispered in her ear._

* * *

_Hermione sat in a chair beside Harry's bed. Her and Ron hadn't left his side since he'd arrived there hours before. Fred and George had come in more often than anyone else, both with saddened expressions every time they saw that he was asleep. Finally Ron cracked and fled the room, with George hot on his heels to calm him down, leaving Hermione and Fred alone._

_"He's gonna be okay…right Fred?" she asked breaking the dead silence._

_"Of course." he said turning to her with a light smile. "He's Harry freaking Potter, he lived through an attack by You-Know-Who, and he defeated him in his first year…youngest Quidditch player in a century, he defeated a basilisk and saved many people last year…and now…all he has to endure is a silly fall…He'll be fine."_

_"Promise?"_

_"I swear." he said with a gentle smile and he took her hand to add to the intensity of it all._

* * *

_Hermione looked at her family one last time before she threw the powder down and was engulfed in green flames. She soon felt ground come up underneath her feet and she fell face first out of the fireplace. But instead of making hard contact with ground, she fell into a male's arms. She could tell it was either Fred or George because he had abs that you could only acquire from Quidditch. She looked up and realized it had been Fred._

_"First Floo travel?" he asked with a raised eyebrow._

_"Oh shut it…and do not mention it to anyone else." she snapped as she wrenched herself from his grip, her face bright red with embarrassment._

_"Oh, someone is blushing…but why oh why?" Fred asked playfully._

_"Shove off Weasley." she said as she walked towards Ginny who had just entered._

* * *

_"Hermione?" Ginny asked later that night as they lay in bed._

_"Yes Ginny?" Hermione asked with wonder, turning to the younger girl._

_"Do you like Fred?"_

_"What!" Hermione asked with a nervous laugh._

_"Just answer me. I won't tell anyone…or laugh…or anything…I just…the way you were looking at him when I walked in on you two when you got here…and at dinner…and when they were playing Quidditch…I just thought." Ginny said with a hint of embarrassment._

_Hermione sighed; she knew there was no sense in lying to Ginny. "Yeah Ginny…I do. I really do…" she said quietly, making Ginny gasp with excitement._

_"Really! Oh this is marvelous. You could become my sister in law!" she exclaimed excitedly._

_"I doubt it Ginny. He is so much older than me…and…and I'm not his type. Have you seen the girls he dates? I cannot be like them."_

_"Hermione, you are gorgeous. I just don't understand how you do not see this, when everyone else does." she said, her voice hinting towards the sadness that had come over her at Hermione's statement._

_"Listen, I just wanna sleep. Harry will be here tomorrow, and then the next day we will be going to the tournament." she said. She rolled over and slowly drifted to sleep._

* * *

_Hermione grinned as she stood in between Fred and Harry, Ron was on the other side of Harry, and George was on the other side of Fred. She could tell this would be an odd evening with her positioned where she was. Fred looked down at her and beamed a smile at her._

_"Ready for this?" he shouted over the other people all throughout the stadium._

_"You know it!" she shouted back, a bright smile plastered to her face. She had never been a fan of Quidditch, but then again, she had never stood with Fred while watching, so this would be a new experience for her._

* * *

_"Yeah! We did it!" Fred and George shouted running in with a vial in their hands. Hermione turned back to them and rolled her eyes._

_"It's not going to work!" she said in a sing-song voice, making the two come over and sit on either side of her._

_"Oh yeah?" George asked._

_"And why is that Granger?" Fred asked._

_"You see this, this is an Age Line. Dumbledore drew it himself." she explained._

_"So?" they asked._

_Hermione snapped her book closed, and took a deep breath, "So, a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something as pathetically dimwitted as an aging potion." she said looking into Fred's eyes._

_"Ah, but that's why it's brilliant." George said._

_"Because he is so pathetically dimwitted." Fred finished as they stood up._

_"Ready Fred?" George asked as they opened the bottle._

_"Ready George!" Fred announced._

_"Bottoms up!" they said in unison, knocking back the potion, and then jumping into the circle. Hermione watched as they tossed their names into the fire, and said, "Yes." they high-five just as the fire roared to life, and knocked them out of the circle, and when they saw them, they had white beards, much like Dumbledore's. Hermione began to laugh as they wrestled on the floor angrily._

_"Told you so!" she shouted through her giggles._

* * *

_Hermione took a deep breath as she stepped out from behind the wall, her eyes meeting Harry's. She looked down at her dress, and then began her descent down the stairs towards the Great Hall, her heart racing as she met Fred's eyes. He smiled brightly, and then turned back to his date who was dragging him towards the door. She looked away, and to her own date, Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion. She smiled as he took her arm and led her into the Great Hall._

* * *

_"Woo! GO HARRY!" Hermione shouted from the seats. She was in-between Ron and Fred who were both shouting for Harry as well. She smiled up at Fred, and then turned to Harry and watched him slowly walk into the large maze. She sat down and turned to Fred and engaged him into a long conversation, before everyone erupted in cheers. They turned and saw Harry on the ground lying on top of something. Upon further examination, she realized it was Cedric, and he looked dead. Cho Chang screamed and Amos Diggory flung himself on top of his son, and Hermione began to cry hard as Fred pulled her near and let her cry onto his chest._

* * *

_Hermione looked around the Burrow warily. This time she had successfully used Floo and had stopped herself from tumbling out. She saw that her luggage had already been taken, but there was no sign of the Weasley clan._

_"Hello?" she called. She heard loud words, but yet muffled words, and then a pop, and Fred was beaming down at her._

_"Hello there Hermione!" Fred said happily._

_"I see you passed your Apparition test." she said with a small smile._

_"That I did. And I see that your face is perfectly fine, so I have to assume that you made it out of the fireplace safely this time." he said with a cocky grin._

_"If you must know, I did." she said with a small laugh._

_"That is good. Read anything new recently?" he asked as he led the way towards the stairs._

_"No, no I have not. I was looking forward to coming and seeing you." she said, upon seeing his face she freaked out and said, "B-Because I know you have books I-I c-c-could read!" Her face was bright red, the shade of his hair, and she had turned away so he would not see her face._

_Fred simply chuckled and said, "Calm down. I do. I just have to get them. Go on up to Ginny's room and I'll bring them to you as quickly as I can." he said as he stepped into his bedroom, leaving her alone in the hallway._

* * *

_Hermione laughed as she walked into the Gryffindor common room with Fred. He was replaying a scene from the book she was reading that she was borrowing from him, and she found it hysterical the way he portrayed the characters. Heads turned and looked at them with amazement that the two were hanging out together. Hermione smiled sheepishly and upon seeing Ginny wave her over, she waved bye to Fred and walked over to the other Weasley._

* * *

_Hermione sighed as she walked down the hall towards the library. She froze when she heard voices nearby. One she recognized even._

_"Since when were you and Granger an item?" a girl asked with irritation._

_"An item!" Fred exclaimed, chuckling slightly. "She's just my little brother's dorky friend is all."_

_Hermione gasped and felt tears spring to life, she had been right, and Ginny had been wrong. She then ran towards the library, she heard footsteps and then an angry curse, meaning Fred had seen her, and knew she had overheard what had just went down._

* * *

_"Miss Granger…" Hermione looked up from Pince's couch and smiled at the librarian. "Uhm, a Mr. Weasley is looking for you."_

_Hermione snorted, "Tell him I'm dead. Or…even better, I'm off snogging his little brother, since that's all I am to him, is his little brother's dorky friend." she growled angrily as she turned back to her book, and Madam Pince left the small sitting room she had hidden in one of the bookshelves that Hermione had come across in her first year. Moments later though, she heard footsteps and she looked up and saw Fred standing there bewildered._

_"Where the bloody hell am I?" he asked as he looked around with wonder._

_"A secret room." Hermione snapped, and she could see the thought forming, "No not the Room of Requirements. One Madam Pince built for herself and I happened upon four years ago. Now, what the hell do you want?"_

_"Hermione, I know you heard what me and Angelina were talking about, and I am so sorry that you had to hear that…I didn't mean it." he said quickly as he sat on the couch across from her._

_"Sure. Why apologize? I am just your little brother's dorky friend. So go on back to your girlfriend, and pretend we never spoke."_

_"Why did you have Madam Pince tell me, you were snogging my younger sibling…and dead?"_

_"It seemed for the best so you would take a hint and leave me alone. How did you find this room?"_

_"She waved her wand, and I was in here…I wasn't gonna stop pestering her until she told me where you were."_

_Hermione snorted. "Why? Why do you care? Just leave me be."_

_"Because…you're really cool Hermione…and…I can be this side of me that no one knows. No one knows I love books…and that I am really smart…and that I love books…and I can be open, and truthful around you. I can be…well…me. I don't wanna lose that side of myself, or you for that matter." he said, looking down at his hands._

_Hermione sighed and nodded. "Fine. Whatever." she growled. Fred looked up at her with a bright grin; she stood up and walked to the fire. He jumped up and ran to her and hugged her tightly. She looked away, a bright blush forming on her face._

* * *

_"And then I said, "And take your pants with you!" You should've seen Snape's face." Fred said as he and Hermione walked down the halls towards another meeting for Dumbledore's Army._

_Hermione giggled loudly, causing passer-bys who knew of her, to look at her oddly."Oh god, that must've been the best part." She replied._

_"It was…trust me." Fred said with a goofy grin as he stuck a hand into his coat pocket. "Will you do me a favor 'Mione?"_

_Hermione looked up at him, chewing on her lower lip lightly, "What?" she asked slowly._

_Fred chuckled at her, "Help me test a product…" he said with a gentle smile._

_Hermione scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, "Frederick Gideon Weasley, I am a blasted prefect, and I am supposed to take up any of your blasted products, remember?" she responded with a harsh look._

_Fred rolled his eyes as he opened his hand to show a small brown box with pink polka dots on it. "It's nothing harmful…trust me. Would I do something like that to you 'Mione?" he asked. "I test those on first years and second years and of course Harry and Ron…especially Ron."_

_"Well there was that telescope this summer…" she said slowly glaring up at him._

_"That was an accident Hermione…please…trust me." He said._

_"What is it? And what does it do?" she asked._

_Fred smiled as he opened the lid to reveal a pink and a blue candy. "Just eat the blue candy, and I eat the pink one…It's a surprise." He said seriously._

_Hermione looked into his brown eyes, searching for any hint of a scam, but when all she found was sincerity she sighed and took the blue candy and popped it into her mouth. "Mmm…tasty." She said with a bright smile._

* * *

_Hermione looked around the Room of Requirements for Fred. When she found him he was with some blonde girl from Hufflepuff. She inched a little closer to listen in on their conversation._

_"So, what's with you and that nerd Fred? She's so not your type." The girl said with a sweet smile._

_Fred laughed lightly, "Ron's dorky little friend. I'm just nice to her." He replied with a cheesy grin._

_Hermione growled as she stormed away and back to her original position, fuming mad._

* * *

Hermione looked at the empty chair before her and felt the stinging behind her eyes that meant the tears were beginning to come. _I love him…I love Fred Weasley. _She thought as the tears began to roll gently down her face. And now, she had gone and messed everything up. Again. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was well past midnight, so she quietly exited and strolled out of the library and across the hall into a passageway that was a shortcut to the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

Hermione stepped into the common room and saw it was empty. She sighed with relief as she made her way to the couch and sat down.

"Hermione?" Hermione froze, but did not turn away from the flaring fire. She knew who was behind her, and didn't want to turn and meet his eyes. She heard him walk over and sit beside her. "Hermione…please." he sounded very upset, and it worried her, so she turned to him and met his eyes head on. They were swimming in sadness, and there was no smile plastered to his beautiful face. His eyes gazed into her's, and she felt him scoot closer to her, so she turned away, a light blush forming on her cheeks. "Hermione…I…you remember that candy I gave you right before the D.A. meeting?" he asked. Hermione simply nodded, but still did not look back at him. "It was special, one of a pair…a pair that was one of a kind, never made any others…what it did, was when the two people who ate the candy, fought with one another, when one of them began to think of the other, their thoughts were put in the other person's mind…" This caused Hermione to gasp and turn to him, fearing the worst. "And I ate the other piece right after you had…and so, when we fought, and you ran off, I knew everything you were thinking, and vice versa. Those flashbacks…they were a mixture of the both of ours…and…"

Hermione looked at Fred, wide eyed, unsure of what she should say. "And?" she asked.

"And…I think…I love you Hermione. I don't think…I know I love you." he whispered.

Hermione gasped and tears began to roll down her face. "Wait…you know everything now…" she stated thinking of the parts where she and Ginny were conversing about Fred.

"Is that all you have to say?" Fred asked sounding hurt. He had heard it in her mind minutes before, but he wanted to hear her say it to him.

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out, and she shut it quickly. Fred rolled his eyes and kissed her passionately on the lips, hoping to spark something in her. Hermione kissed him back fervently, and minutes later they pulled away and she took a deep breath. "I love you too." she whispered.

The

End


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